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Episode 04, Friday 7 March , 2008

Life's Little Mysteries - Episode 4

Does the Queen have a passport and do politicians go through customs like everyone else? … asks Russell, WAAnswer from Geoff Hutchison:

A. The Queen does not need a passport because all British passports are in the name of the sovereign, the Majesty and she is Her Majesty. When she was a princess, she needed a passport and a learner’s permit.

The rank of politicians will influence whether they have to go through customs. Often, politicians have assistants that arrive earlier and clear customs for them.

Is it true that in the northern hemisphere bathwater drains and tornadoes spin in the opposite direction to the southern hemisphere? … asks Andrew, NSWAnswer from Kate Burridge:

A. The water from baths and sinks does not drain one way in the northern hemisphere and the opposite way in the southern hemisphere. Experts agree, that what will affect direction of rotation of water in draining sinks, toilets and bathtubs is the shape/design of the receptacle or the rotation that was introduced when it was being filled (or perhaps later if there was some sort of disturbance in the water). This would explain the fact that people do report seeing a bathwater swirling in the opposite direction in, say, Australia versus the UK.

However, the rotation of the earth does cause something known as the Coriolis effect and this does influence the direction of rotation of large weather systems and large vortices in oceans. So, tornadoes do tend to go counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere (although by no means consistently — both counter-clockwise and clockwise rotating tornadoes have been observed during the same thunderstorm!).